Education - Class differences in achievement (internal factors)

Question 1

What does it mean to label someone?

Answer 1

attach a meaning or definition to them - teachers often attach labels regardless of pupils actual ability or attitude

Question 2

Becker (1971)

Answer 2

interviews with 60 high school teachers showed they judged pupils according to how closely they fitted the image of an “ideal pupil” - passive and obedient (middle class were closest)

Question 3

Dunne and Gazeley

Answer 3

schools persistently produce working class underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of teachers - teachers normalised underachievement of working class pupils

Question 4

RISTS (1970)

Answer 4

study of american kindergarten - teacher used information about childrens home background and appearance to place them in seperate groups

fast learners = “tigers” - middle class, neat appearance - showed them encouragement
“cardinals” and “clowns” - given lower level books to read and fewer chances to show ability

Question 5

What is meant by self fulfilling prophecy?

Answer 5

prediction that comes true simply by virtue of it having been made
Interactionists argue that labelling can affect pupils achievement by creating self fulfilling prophecy

Question 6

Rosenthal and Jacobsen (1968)

Answer 6

Told school had a new test to identify those who would “spurt ahead” and picked 20% of students. A year later 47% of those kids had made significant progress

Question 7

What is meant by streaming?

Answer 7

separating children into different ability groups or classes called “streams” - Becker’s study shows that working class children are likely to be judged and put in lower streams

Question 8

Douglas - streaming

Answer 8

found that children placed in a lower stream at age 8 had suffered a decline in their IQ score by age 11

Question 9

Gillborn and Youdell streaming study

Answer 9

teachers use stereotypical notions of ability to stream pupils - less likely to see working class and black pupils as having ability. Denies them opportunity to gain good grades and widens class gap in achievement

League tables create “A - C economy” - schools focus time, effort and resources on pupils they think have potential

Question 10

Educational triage (gillborn and youdell)

Answer 10

schools categorise pupils into three types
1. those who will pass anyways - left alone
2. those with potential - helped
3. hopeless cases doomed to fail

Question 11

What is meant by pupil subculture?

Answer 11

group of pupils who share similar values and behaviour patterns

Question 12

Lacey’s concepts (1970)

Answer 12

1. Differentiation - process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude and behaviour. Streaming is form of differentiation
2. Polarisation - process in which pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of two opposite poles - pro school and anti school subculture

anti school subculture to gain social status because they cant gain educational status

Question 13

Ball (1981)

Answer 13

found that when schools abolished banding - the basis for pupils to polarise into subcultures was largely removed and the influence of the anti school subculture declined

Question 14

Woods (1979) - pupil responses

Answer 14

1. Ingratiation - being the teachers pet
2. Ritualism - going through the motions and staying out of trouble
3. Retreatism - daydreaming and mucking about
4. Rebellion - outright rejection of everything the school stands for

Question 15

Furlong (1984)

Answer 15

many pupils are not committed permanently to any one response but may move between different types of response acting differently in lessons with different teachers

Question 16

Fullers study (1984)

Answer 16

black girls in a comprehensive school who were labelled as low achievers channelled that negativity and in response studied hard to prove the teachers and school wrong

Question 17

What do Marxists argue about labelling?

Answer 17

labels are not merely the result of teachers individual prejudices but stem from the fact that teachers work in a system that reproduces class divisions

Question 18

What is meant by habitus?

Answer 18

refers to the learned/take for granted ways of thinking, being and acting that are shared by a particular social class

Question 19

What is meant by symbolic violence? (bordieu)

Answer 19

school devalues working class habitus so that working class pupils are deemed to worthless - withholding of symbolic capital

Question 20

Archer

Answer 20

working class pupils felt that to be educationally successful they would have to change how they talked and presented themselves

Question 21

What is Nike identities?

Answer 21

to overcome symbolic violence, working class students gain self worth through style - conform to these styles to get social status

Question 22

Ingram (2009)

Answer 22

having a working class identity was inseparable from belonging to a working class locality. Working class communities place great emphasis on conformity

Question 23

Evans (2009)

Answer 23

studied working class girls -found they were reluctant to apply to elite universities like Oxbridge due to fear of not fitting in